Today, we'll go to the circus -- at least virtually. I'm sure you don't normally associate high tech and circus, but if this is the case, this story will prove you how IT is important. Especially if, like the Cirque du Soleil, you have several shows traveling all year around.
Now, on with the show with Alice Dragoon as our host.
Cirque du Soleil is more than aerial acrobatics and gymnastic symmetry. Behind the scenes, an information technology tour de force keeps the show running smoothly.
Here is the Executive Summary.
The small village of Quidam [one of Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil's five traveling shows] that sprang up over eight days this summer in an East Boston parking lot is no island, but a well-connected branch of the technically intricate Cirque du Soleil, the popular French Canadian circus that tours five shows simultaneously. Until recently, each tour's IT infrastructure was isolated and unique. Now new CIO Danielle Savoie has established standards with the goal of simplifying and shortening the IT set-up and tear-down process for the tours, which move to new cities every two months. All servers and workstations are based on Windows 2000 with Active Directory, along with standardized cable connections. Switching to voice over IP and a single cable for voice and data reduced installation time by 25 percent, and the show's 28 point of sale (POS) systems travel in custom road cases that take half an hour to unload. Enhancements in the next two years will include POS software to link cash registers on tour to SAP back at the Montreal headquarters.
Of course, things are not always as smooth as this summary implies.
Although Cirque never had any disasters with its old tour infrastructure, Danielle Savoie attributes that to pure luck. "It was not robust and not well configured, but it worked," she says. While Cirque's artists perform without a net, Savoie isn't willing to do that in IT. Unlike the gravity-defying acts of Cirque's shows, Savoie wants tour IT to be as easy as possible, very stable and simple to manage. "The show must go on perfectly," she says.
Please read the CIO Magazine's article for in-depth explanations and additional photographs.
And if you want to see some streaming videos of the shows, please visit the Cirque du Soleil's website.
Source: Alice Dragoon, CIO Magazine, November 1, 2002 Issue
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